Fieldtrip Chapter 9
by thegoodpill
Summary: Zuko once again argues with Toph, telling her things no other member of the gang has ever told her. When both of them arrive on Kyoshi Island, Zuko is faced with one of his worst nightmares: wearing a dress. But, what about Toph?


**Field Trip: Chapter 9 – Dancing Warriors**

Toph yawned as she outstretched herself, smiling once she felt the sun on her face. She took a deep breath and knew immediately it was going to be a sunny day.

She shocked when she noticed her companion was up already and leaning on the boat's railing, looking out over the sea. With a somewhat surprised look on her face she walked over to him and, without saying a word, she too placed her arms on the railing and looked at the sea. If that had been possible at least.

"It's going to be a good day." Zuko said, his voice hoarser than normal.

Toph turned her head to him with an even more surprised look. In response the firebender turned around and leaned with his back against the railing, crossing his arms. He smiled.

"My uncle taught me a few things about the weather." he explained, as if he knew she was going to ask him about it. "One of the many things he taught me."

"He's a good teacher."

Now it was Zuko's turn to look surprised, and with widened eyes he looked at her. She'd turned her head to the sea again, and a smile was on her face too.

"I wish I had a good teacher in my family."

The Firelord frowned lightly at her comment. He wasn't so sure if she'd ever been taught by anyone but those badgermoles (and that earthbending teacher of hers) and frankly he didn't like how she made her family look bad. Even he didn't do that.

"Tell me," he began, "Did your mom ever try to teach you something?"

He could see the confusion on Toph's face, and luckily for him his silence made her think about what she'd been asked.

"No." she eventually replied.

"Did your dad ever try to teach you something?"

"No." she answered, faster this time.

"Is there any other family member who tried to?"

For a moment it was silent. Zuko didn't dare to look down at her, afraid he would get killed by the look in her eyes.

"What point are you trying to make?"

He sighed to himself. Now he had no other choice but to say what he wanted to say. And lying was no option. Suddenly he heard himself telling Toph how he'd gotten his scar. _"Training accident." _And that was a lie. A lie she'd certainly detected. Why hadn't she said anything about it yet? Was she waiting for him to tell her himself?

"Zuko?"

He shocked lightly before looking at his left, where the blind girl was looking strangely at him.

"The point?"

The firebender blinked a few times, staring at the girl next to him before the point finally came to him.

"The point is," he tried to continue like nothing had happened, "That you can't lie about your family. You can't make them look bad with lies."

Toph frowned at him. For a moment Zuko wanted to jump overboard, only did his stupid honor and all that stuff prevent him from doing so. Strangely enough Toph didn't say anything at all. She kept frowning at him and suddenly she walked away from him.

"Since when did you get so wise?" she said loudly, making him smile.

She probably didn't see that as a compliment, but he certainly did.

**

With their bags thrown over their shoulders they waited for the boat they were on to stop. They were only a few seconds away of arriving at Kyoshi Island, and the closer they came, the more Toph's mood seemed to drop. Zuko wanted to cheer her up more than anything, but he was afraid he was going to say something wrong that would make her angry, so he decided to stay silent and watch the island come closer. When Toph sighed though, he couldn't hold himself any longer.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay."

"How do you know?"

The firebender groaned silently, planting his hand on his forehead. Her answer was expected, yet he hadn't expected it at all.

"I don't, okay? I'm just trying to cheer you up. If you're going to be this cranky all the time then it probably won't be okay, but that's something you'll only have to thank yourself for."

Before the earthbender had a chance to reply anything the boat suddenly stopped. Zuko looked over the railing and noticed they'd arrived at the island. He inhaled deeply and without looking at his friend, he walked off the ship to meet the Kyoshi Warriors. He looked back when he heard someone running after him and he couldn't hold back a smile as Toph came towards him to eventually catch up with him. She too was smiling.

"You're crazy for talking to me like that, Lordy, but that doesn't mean you're not right."

Zuko's smile widened.

"But that also doesn't mean you won't get paid back for talking to me like that."

And his smile vanished.

**

"No. No way."

"Come on, just try it on."

"No, I won't even think about it."

"Toph, can you help?"

The blind girl stopped leaning against the wall and went standing in front of the tall guy. For once it wasn't her who was being a pain and she was clearly enjoying that fact. It had taken Zuko by surprise that she hadn't refused a single moment to wear the Kyoshi Warrior's outfit-no, wait, _uniform_. From the moment Zuko had seen what the outfit-uniform exactly was he'd kindly refused. Kind of.

"You wanna wear this uniform?" Toph asked, grinning.

"No."

She turned to Suki and the other warriors before shrugging. Her grin had changed into a sheepish smile.

"I did what I could."

"Listen," the Firelord said as he stepped forward to the girls, "I'm not going to wear a... a... a _dress_ just to join your little group and learn some fancy dancing."

"Fancy dancing?"

"Yeah, you're like... dancing warriors!"

"_Dancing_ warriors?"

Zuko's face fell at the sight of at least six angry warriors who looked ready to vent their anger on him – why not, he was the cause for their anger to begin with. Zuko swallowed loudly.

"Uh oh."

Before he even had the slightest chance to run one of the warriors was already sitting on top of him. To his surprise it was Toph, and he noticed he wasn't the only surprised one in the room. No one had ever expected her to be on the girls' side, even though she was a girl herself.

"Don't you call them dancing warriors." The Kyoshi Warriors smiled happily. "Only _I'm_ allowed to do such thing. Plus, you should be glad they wanna teach you their fancy dancing."

"Uh, Toph? It's not really called fancy-"

"Whatever, Facepaint." The shy teenage girl backed down with a frightened face. "Point is, Lordy, that you should wear their outfit." One of the warriors coughed. "Uniform."

It was now that Zuko actually noticed his small friend looked pretty good in the uniform herself. She'd allowed the girls to put the make up on her and to get her hair right, but not to touch her feet. A bare foot Kyoshi Warrior, that was something new. Unique. Just like the girl herself.

The oldest of the two benders sighed deeply before Toph got off him with a smile on her face. She reached out her hand for him, which he gladly took with his own, and pulled him off the ground. He looked from Toph to the other warriors who looked kind of adventurous in those green uniforms, and all the sudden something struck him.

"Did Sokka wear that uniform too?"

The girls behind Suki began giggling almost instantly at his question, and Suki herself had to suppress a laugh. Toph being her usual self simply laughed loudly at the question, it seemed she'd never known about that small fact. Or maybe she had and laughed at how less he knew about his friends.

"Fine," Zuko said, making the girls stop laughing, "I'll wear it."

**

The Blind Bandit and The Blue Spirit unpacked their clothes and other needs in their private room. Even though Zuko had promised the warriors to wear the uniform, he'd told him he would wear them the next day because he wasn't ready yet to be a fancy warrior. With that he'd earned a punch from Toph – in the guts this time – and together with it six scowls, seven with Toph's included.

"I'm glad Bumi packed our usual clothes too." the young man mentioned happily as he held his Fire Nation outfit in front of him.

Without giving any warnings he removed the green shirt he'd been wearing to play the crazy king's slave-or 'servant' as he'd called it. As Toph turned around to him and watched him with big eyes and a huge blush on her face, he simply removed his pants. He threw it, just as his shirt, onto the ground not too far from his bed. Zuko then pulled his shirt over his head and once he had it on he took in its scent with pleasure. He obviously didn't realize that the longer he didn't wear a pants, the more uncomfortable the blind girl got. When he took his shirt in his hands and inhaled deeply to smell it more Toph hit the ground with her foot, causing a small crack in the floor.

"Toph?" Zuko asked confusedly while he turned to her.

He couldn't see the look on her face, she was clever enough to hide it behind her black hair. Right after they'd gotten into their room she'd pulled her bangs right in front of her eyes again, right where they belonged – so she'd said. It made figuring out what was wrong difficult though.

"Do you realize you're still not wearing pants?"

Zuko looked from his slightly hairy legs to his friend and back at his legs again before it struck him. A sly smile crawled on his lips as he lifted his head once again to give Toph a smug look. She'd lifted her head as well and was now facing him, and it was more than obvious that she was blushing.

"You're right."

He purposely remained quiet as he stared at her, his eyes narrowing and smile widening in amusement. Even though he didn't get why she was shy now – she'd ridden with him on an ostrich horse when he was as good as naked a few days before – he couldn't get enough of her uncomfortableness. He could see her head turn red the longer he waited.

"Then maybe you should put one on."

The sound of Toph's voice was probably the funniest thing Zuko had ever heard. It was so shy and broken and forced. It wasn't the complete opposite of her normal voice, but it was pretty close.

"Oh, right!" he said loudly, overacting.

"I'm going outside. Taking a walk."

The earthbender was out of the room before the barely dressed one could even say something, and that made him laugh out loud. From the moment he caught himself laughing he stopped. It had been a very long time since he'd laughed. He reminded himself he had to thank Toph for that, and maybe those dancing warriors too. If they hadn't come to Kyoshi Island, the reason why he'd laughed wouldn't have been there. And suddenly he looked forward to wear that uniform, _and_ to learn some new moves. Together with Toph of course.

**To Be Continued**


End file.
